Thursday, 29 March 2012

This Sunday will be April 1st, better known amongst pranksters as April Fools’ Day, but I’m not going to be playing any April Fool
tricks, except maybe on myself! On Sunday I will be taking part in the A to Z blog challenge. I’ll be posting up a blog every day of April
[with Saturdays off for a well deserved rest] and each one will refer to a
different letter of the alphabet. Last year I blogged an A to Z of Leicester
and you can read the whole thing here.

This year’s topic is going to be nostalgia with memories from
the 1950s and 1960s. This means that half of you will be able to join me in a ‘do
you remember when...’ fest and the other half will have a history lesson,
although it will be an enjoyable history lesson because each of my posts will
consist of the following:

There’ll be a smell to get you in the mood because
smells are well known for reminding you of the past.

I’ll be telling you about some of my memories because when you get to
my age there are so many clogging up the brain that you need to pass them on to
make room for more. [I know it doesn’t really work like that but it is good to share
memories.]

There’ll be a list of TV and radio programmes,
remembering that in the 1950s people listened to the radio as most of us didn’t
have television. I know! No TV! It hardly bears thinking about!

I’ll also include a list of names, mostly people from the
music and entertainment world. When I was young I was obsessed with lists of singers,
pop stars, groups and I’ve never really grown out of it.

Finally there’ll be a piece of music from one of the singers
in the names list and that’s it...

Monday, 26 March 2012

When people talk about epublishing it makes me think of the
old Betamax video system that battled with VHS and lost. I suspect there will
be many ‘Betamaxes’ in the epublishing world while the new technology finds its way. We need to keep up with developments so, last
week, I went along to the Leicester Writers’ Clubto listen to an epublishing discussion.

Chris Meade spoke passionately about the need to explore
this new technology rather than just post up old style books on ereaders. He showed
us some exciting children’s story apps being developed for ipads and his
work on if:book further explores digital opportunities with literature. A
recent project involved David Almond working with groups of school children in
conjunction with if:book writers to create instant ebooks. He explains it much
better himself at his website, Book Futures.

The author,Amanda Grange, is making use of ereaders to upload
her backlist. She uses Amazon’s software for Kindle and assured us that it’s
easy once you know how [isn’t everything!] What she likes about Kindle is that
you can get up to 70% of the royalties. The downside, of course, is that you
have to publicise it yourself.

Stephen Baker, from EBooks by Design, specialises in
converting into eformat those books that need a bit more design, ones that have
pictures, charts, tables, specialist fonts, the sort of things that Kindle can’t
handle. His rates seem reasonable too. You can find him at EBooks by Design.

John Martin, from Leicester libraries, spoke about elibrary
books. I was amused that they self-destruct* after three weeks but saddened by
the refusal of Amazon to allow Kindle books to be included. This means that at
the moment estocks are limited but library services are ‘in discussions’ with
Amazon and have a determination to keep up with all the latest technological advances
which is excellent news.

*OK, so they don't actually self-destruct but they do disappear off your ereader on the due date.

I came away from the evening with a tingle of anticipation
for the future. The way forward with ereaders still exists in the minds of boffins
but it’s going to be developed and soon and I’ve no idea in what way. How
exciting is that!

Tuesday, 20 March 2012

I'm not well known for giving a straight answer. Mr A gets quite frustrated when my replies drift from the original topic. Maybe it's an age thing. But last week Rebecca Bradley, from Life in Clarity, tagged
me. My tag request is to answer her eleven questions and then I have
to pass the tag on. I've done my best to give straight answers but I'm afraid I couldn't stop myself from throwing in one or two assumptions so...

1) If you could only read one book for the rest of
your life, what would you choose?

Assuming that, like on Desert Island Discs, I’m
allowed to have the Bible as well, then I’ll choose an Anthology of Poetry. Any
fully comprehensive one would do to keep my mind busy. Right now I’m reading The
Seashell Anthology but it’s on my Kindle and I can’t let it
fall open in a random way.

2) What is your favourite day of the week and why?

Saturday. That’s the day I chill out.

3) What would you find difficult to give up?

No brainer! Chocolate!

4) If you could visit any place in the world where
would it be?

Assuming it doesn't have to be a first-time visit then Jerusalem. Last October's visit was too
short.

5) If you could speak with anyone, living or dead,
who would it be and why?

My Mum. She died last April. Every time something
happens I want to tell her about it and there are so many qurestions that I
never asked her when she was alive.

6) eReader or physical book?

Physical book. My Kindle isn’t as easy to hold and,
like I said above, you can’t dip into a Kindle book.

7) Why do you blog?

Initially it was to raise my profile as a writer
but now I blog because I love all of you... and I love the
opportunity to share good news... and I love the chance to have a good moan... and because I love it!

8) Where do you write?

Anywhere, everywhere but mostly at the dining room
table, even though I do have a lovely study specially designed by Mr A.

9) If you could recommend one blog to follow, what
would it be?

Assuming that you’re already following my blog, and
assuming that you’re interested in children’s Picture Books then I recommend
you follow the Picture Book Den.

10) Savoury or sweet?

Both, consumed in alphabetical order.

11) What is your most treasured possession?

Assuming that I’m allowed to possess people, then
it has to be my family. I love them more than anything in the world.

...and now to pass
the tag on. I’d like to tag a newbie blogger, Alex Gutteridge. Alex at Alex Gutteridge Writes is a children’s writer, like myself. We have a lot in common but I’ll leave it to her to tell you more about herself because, Alex, your tag request is to write 7
interesting facts about you that we don’t already know.

Wednesday, 14 March 2012

I suspect spam is getting us all down. There’s still a small amount of spam tumbling through
our letter box, but not as much as there used to be and at least it keeps the
recycling bag topped up so that's not so much of a problem. It’s the phone calls, tweets and emails that get me down because they're out of my control.

I may have blogged about telephone spam calls
before so apologies if I’m repeating myself. [I’m not
really turning into that dreaded elderly aunt who tells the same anecdotes each
time you visit... am I?]

We get so many spam telephone calls that I have
been known to blow my Acme Thunderer whistle down the line. I know it’s cruel
and I know they’re only trying to earn a living but when the phone keeps ringing
with INTERNATIONAL OUT OF THE AREA displayed, what’s a girl to do?

The official advice, when I reported the problem to BT, is
to never answer, but last week my cousin was abroad and it might have been him
so I answered. I didn’t recognise the voice so I said, ‘I don’t know you, do I?’ He responded with a string of expletives. I hung up. That really is no
way to sell anything.

My Gmail account filters out email spam very effectively
but I keep hearing of people who have had their emails hacked into so that all
their contacts think they’re stranded in Spain with no money. This has just happened to a lovely blogging friend, Ann Best, who blogs at Ann Carbine Best's Blog. Hopefully no money was handed over by anyone but Ann now has the hassle of setting up a new email account and contacting people. Has this sort of scam ever worked? Is there anyone out there who would really send out money without further investigation? I suppose there must be or it wouldn’t keep happening.

I’m guessing that everyone on twitter has been followed
by a sewer specialist after mentioning toilets... No? Just me then! Last
week I tweeted about having a scale and polish and was followed by a dentist!
I tweeted with my mouth closed for the rest of the day. Seriously though, what I
find offensive are those spammers who expect me to fall for the line, ‘This
photo of you made me laugh out loud’ with a link. I don’t click on those links as
I was born many thousands of days ago and I always block and report them which
is satisfying because they instantly drop off my timeline.

The problem is that, even on Twitter, as soon as one spammer
has been hit on the head another pops up somewhere else. So until effective
legislation can stop them, all we can do is follow the official advice:

Friday, 9 March 2012

My Ladybird ABC book was one of my favourite books when I
was small. I can still remember the picture on the U page. It was a brightly
coloured umbrella and I used to think it was the most beautiful umbrella ever...
and then this morning I Googled it. Apparently it was known as Uncle Mac’s ABC
Book and... wow! Here it is...

*big sigh of nostalgia*

aardvark...... bear...... cat...... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I still love all things alphabetical, like alphabetical
lists. At night when I can’t sleep I choose a topic and go through the alphabet
with it. I rarely reach midway. It’s so reassuringly soporific.

So it will come as no surprise that I’m taking part in the A
to Z Challenge again this year. I’ll be posting up every day during April [with
Saturdays off for a breather]. My topic will be nostalgia, memories from the 1950s and 60s... [advance warning: there may be lots of sighs of nostaliga coming from me next month.]

Last year I restricted myself to 40 words exactly per post and I
called them quadragintals. This year I’ll make things a little easier. I don’t think that this sort of a
blogging challenge is the place for long in-depth articles so I'm going to try to be...

Monday, 5 March 2012

When I was a child I found the concept of generation difficult
to understand. I knew that older people were once young because they were
always telling me so, but I didn’t believe that they really used to run round
and play like I did. I wondered how you moved from one generation to the next
and then when I reached my 50s and my Mum was approaching her 80s the full
significance of generation hit me. Older generations die. This rarely happens
in one go and so inevitably one member will be left after all the cousins, brothers
and sisters have gone. Yesterday was the sort of day for thinking about this
because it was my Mother’s Stone Setting and Memorial Service.

I’m typing this now with the sun streaming in through the
window which is a bit annoying because yesterday it poured incessantly. We didn’t
let the weather put a damper on things. This was our opportunity to celebrate
Mum’s life. My sister sadly wasn’t well enough to be with us but other members
of our family had travelled from all over the country. Some had arrived for the
weekend. Others had driven through the rain from Manchester, from Devon, just
for the day. I have a lovely family.

I have lovely friends too. They knew how anxious I was and several
weeks ago they presented me with a fait accompli. They were ordering, preparing
and serving all the food for a buffet lunch. So while they worked at our house
we went to the cemetery. I unveiled the memorial stone and, after a short
service in the Prayer House, I read a eulogy to Mum. It would have been easy to
ask someone else to do it but I had been so close to Mum and I had things I
wanted to say.

I wanted to tell the congregation about the four generations
of family that mourned her. There’s only one family member remaining from Mum’s
generation. There used to be so many of them. She told me recently how sad she
was to be the last. It’s a lonely, and no doubt frightening, place to be.

I talked about my generation… although I didn’t mention that
we will soon be that 'Oldest Generation'. I talked about the third layer of
generation and how, just before Dad died in 1977 he wished that he could live
to see his grandchildren grow. Mum was fortunate. She not only saw, she helped
them grow. She did love her grandchildren.

As for the fourth generation, he’s not yet two and will
sadly grow up with no memory of Great Grandma. My son brought him to see Mum
two days before she died. The baby put his hand out to Mum. Mum put her hand
out to the baby and they stayed like that for several long minutes. He may
never remember it but I will never forget.

Rosalind Adam

I am a writer, committed worrier and nostalgia obsessive with a fascination for all things historical. I am enjoying my second year of an MA in Creative Writing at Leicester University and don't know how I'll manage without it. Please scroll down to see my books...

The Children's Book of Richard III

This is my latest book, illustrated by Alice Povey. Click on the picture to buy a copy or go to Amazon.

Children's History of Leicester

A Children's History of Leicester published by Hometown World Publishers, 2011

Bathtime Rap

Bathtime Rap is a fun children's picture book published by Franklin Watts, 2008.

Building a Community

A history of the Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregation

Heritage Funded Projects

I was lead facilitator on the following two Heritage Lottery funded projects:

Leicester Jewish Voices

In 2009 I coordinated a memories project looking at the Leicester Jewish Community during the 1950s and 60s. You can see the website by clicking on the picture.

Local Cemetery Project

I coordinated the cataloguing of the Jewish section of Leicester Gilroes to provide a genealogical search facility. Subsequent research of a number of the headstones enabled us to record 'The Lives Behind the Stones'. 2014/15